Eibar 2 (Gabriel Barbosa 48, Vadillo 85) Barcelona 1 (Messi 82)
Our 3rd victory over Barcelona and there was late drama as Messi levelled before Vadillo struck after a quick free-kick by Moller Daehli. He then got injured and will be out for 2 months.
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UEFA Champions League Group E Legia Warsaw 3 (Jutkiewicz 3, 65, Larsen 90) Eibar 4 (Dzerlek 4, Rossi 27, Boudzoumou 36, Tyton og55)
Another chance for my backups to impress and they came out on top here. Rossi had a goal disallowed too.
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Athletic Bilbao 2 (Rico 5, Sola 28) Eibar 2 (Escudero 23, Gabriel Barbosa 73)
I usually struggle against Athletic and this match was no different.
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Eibar 2 (Ocampos 14, Gabriel Barbosa 36) Atletico Madrid 2 (Volland 45, Mandzukic 67)
This was a nightmare of a match as we threw away a 2 goal lead and had Ekiza and Moller Daehli injured. It could have been worse as Ortola saved a late Yarmolenko penalty.
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UEFA Champions League Group E VfL Wolfsburg 3 (Vieirinha 22, Lasogga 26, 30) Eibar 3 (Rafinha 7, Ruben Garcia 46, Boudzoumou 77)
A decent point which leaves us 3pts clear of both Man Utd and Wolfsburg.
A very tough month in which we did brilliantly to come through it unbeaten. We got a few hard earned draws and more importantly beat Barcelona to open up a 6pt gap between ourselves and we have a great chance of splitting the top two for the first time.
My young striker, Ewandro, who is out on loan at Real Betis is currently 2nd in the scoring charts and is tipped to win the European Golden Boy award!!!
Lineup - De Gea (Ortola), Azpilicueta, Pique, Ramos (Bartra), Alba, Javi Martinez (Busquets), Fabregas (Thiago), Koke (Jese), Ruben Garcia, Isco, Diego Costa (Llorente)
My first defeat as Spain manager. Ruben Garcia had a goal disallowed that would have made it 1-1. Ortola made his international debut here.
Lineup - De Gea, Azpilicueta, Bartra (Victor Ruiz), Ramos, Alba (Bernat), Javi Martinez (Busquets), Fabregas, Koke (Jese), Ruben Garcia (Pedro), Isco, Diego Costa (Llorente)
We were caught off guard by Algeria and quickly went 2-0 down. We battled back and Victor Ruiz came off the bench to score on his international debut.
We were on fire in the first half and even had 2 goals disallowed.
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Cordoba 1 (Nieto 44) Eibar 1 (Ocampos 66)
A terrible result against the bottom side and to rub salt in the wounds it was my ex player who scored for them. Real Madrid lost though which was a bonus.
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Copa del Rey 4th Round 1st Leg Real Valladolid 1 (Lozano 86) Eibar 3 (Milina 4, Escobar og38, Dzerlek 49)
An easy win for my backups.
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UEFA Champions League Group E Eibar 3 (Grenier 1, Moller Daehli 79, Dzerlek 90) Manchester United 1 (Van Persie 85)
A great victory which confirms our qualification as group winners and eliminates Man Utd. Both sides had a man sent-off in the 2nd half.
The year of 2017 ends with us 2nd in the table, battling it out for the title and also progressing in both cup competitions and in the next rounds we will play Shakhtar Donetsk and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League and Copa del Rey respectively.
I managed to get Mats Moller Daehli to sign a new deal with an increased release clause of $60m which is great news.
In the World Cup my Spanish side will face Uruguay, Saudi Arabia and Croatia.
Eibar 4 (Ocampos 12, Gabriel Barbosa 37, 82, Ruben Garcia 66) Deportivo La Coruna 0
A nice start to 2018 and hopefully this is a sign that Gabriel Barbosa will be more prolific than he has been!
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Copa del Rey 5th Round 1st Leg Eibar 5 (Cosic 23 Ocampos 27pen, 35pen, Grenier 57, Dzerlek 80) Athletic Bilbao 1 (Guillermo 60)
I am sorry Athletic, please forgive me................
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Eibar 1 (Gabriel Barbosa 65) Granada 0
We struggled here and Gabriel Barbosa had an early goal disallowed too.
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Copa del Rey 5th Round 2nd Leg Athletic Bilbao 3 (Guillermo 3, Vidal 33, Ibai Gomez 59) Eibar 3 (Rafinha 81, Telletxea 86, Bach 89) (Eibar win 8-4 on aggregate)
What a cmeback that was!!!! It was a bit too close for comfort towards the end though.
An easy win as Moller Daehli picked up another 3 assists.
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Copa del Rey 5th Round 1st Leg
Valencia 3 (Gargano 5, 22, Dzeko 47) Eibar 1 (Gabriel Barbosa 56)
We were awful here and the only saving grace was Gabriel Barbosa's away goal.
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Real Sociedad 3 (Ayew 13, Canales 42, Boateng 69) Eibar 2 (Cosic 54, Vadillo 77)
Another terrible performance - they had 2 goals disallowed - and it allows them to get within 4pts of us.
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Copa del Rey QF 2nd Leg Eibar 3 (Ocampos 42, Gabriel Barbosa 55, 90)
Valencia 1 (Vezo 86) (AET - agg 4-4 - Valencia win 5-4 on penalties)
Agony!! We battled hard here and went 2-0 up, then had a Vadillo goal disallowed, before Valencia scored late on to seemingly put us out but Gabriel Barbosa struck in stoppage time to save us. It went to pens and Moller Daehli missed to send us out.
This month started well but ended horribly as we lost in the league to Sociedad and after winning the Copa del Rey for the last 2 years we crashed out on penalties against Valencia. Hopefully we can bounce back next month and with Gabriel Barbosa, Vadillo and Cosic finding their form things are looking good.
I sold Sergio Tejera to Olympiakos for $2.8m. He made 140 appearances for us and scored 17 goals and that was my only deal of the transfer window.
We won but Ruben Garcia and Gabriel Barbosa had goals disallowed.
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UEFA Champions League 1st Round 1st Leg Shakhtar Donetsk 0 Eibar 1 (Grenier 31)
I am pleased with this result as it gives us a great chance of qualifying for the quarter finals.
Any month where we win all of our games is a good month and this one was no different although we didnt manage to reduce Real Madrid's lead at the top of the table. That being said, we are a whopping 16pts clear of Barcelona so it looks as though that the big two are going to be split.
Next month see's us have the youth intake and if I can get a really good one I may be tempted to sell some first teams players to balance the books. We are currently $13m in the red so if we sold a couple of my leading players bought on the cheap (Ocampos, Grenier, Ewandro) we would be on a sound footing financially.
If only we could extend the stadium.................
A hard fought victory and revenge over our cup exit.
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Malaga 3 (Junior 30, Fran Cruz 48, Aspas 90) Eibar 4 (Ocampos 19, Rafinha 39, Ruben Garcia 64, Victor Ruiz 69)
I was without my first choice central midfield pairing and Milina who would have played too but it wasnt our creativity that was the problem - it was the defence!!!! Never mind - another victory.
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UEFA Champions League 1st Round 2nd Leg Eibar 3 (Gabriel Barbosa 10, Rafinha 30, Vadillo 52) Shakhtar Donetsk 3 (Fischer 34, Fred 40, Wellington Nem 63) (Eibar win 4-3 on aggregate)
Through we go....... Ekiza was awful here.
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Barcelona 4 (Javi Martinez 16, 73, Messi 44, Suarez 87) Eibar 2 (Gabriel Barbosa 7, 28)
I am disappointed to lose after leading twice but it shows how far we have come when we are angry at losing away to Barcelona!!!
Javi Martinez obviously doesnt want to go to the World Cup....................lol
This month was extremely tough as we faced Real, Barca, Valencia, Sevilla and had a Champions League match against Shakhtar to contend with. Overall we did not too bad and I am happy with my teams efforts.
Real Madrid should go on to win the title however as they have a 4pt lead with a game in hand. It is they who we face in the Champions League quarter finals.
I signed this young Colombian on a free. I had agreed the deal 3 years ago when he was 15 and at the level that we were at then he looked amazing but after 3 years of not playing any football it seems as though he may be a dud? View attachment 339125
As for the youth intake - it was pretty decent. This was the best player........... View attachment 339124
UEFA Champions League QF 1st Leg Eibar 5 (Ocampos 18, Ruben Garcia 21, Gabriel Barbosa 49, Moller Daehli 77, 89) Real Madrid 1 (Djordjevic 69)
OH MY ******* GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a month this was!!!! We got some huge victories against some top sides but obviously the highlight was the 5-1 thrashing of Real Madrid in the Champions League. We still have a chance of reaching the final but it will take a special performance to defeat Juventus away from home.
In the league we are 7pts behind Real so with only 4 games left there will be no title for us but we are a whopping 19pts clear of Barca so the big two have been split for the first time!
UEFA Champions League SF 2nd Leg Juventus 5 (Ferreyra 37, 55, Wilshere 49, Nastasic 57, Moreno 60) Eibar 5 (Ocampos 4, 90pen, Grenier 15, 82, Ruben Garcia 35) (Agg: 6-6, Eibar win on away goals)
WE MAKE IT TO THE FINAL!!!!!
What a game this was. We started off on fire and went 3up and then found ourselves 5-3 down and I was kicking myself for not going more defensive. Then Grenier scored from a free-kick and I went to an overload strategy. Moller Daehli got brought down in the box which gave us a pen and Ocampos struck it home.
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Eibar 2 (Rafinha 22, Vadillo 40) Cordoba 1 (Borja Baston 49)
I gave my first picks a much deserved rest here and they got the job done. Real Madrid got beat..............
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Eibar 3 (Rafinha 8, Boudzoumou 22, Ocampos 58) Real Betis 1 (Zvipelj 76)
Rafinha impresses every time he starts and he did so again here. Just a shame that Ruben Garcia, Moller Daehli and Ocampos are cemented in as first picks.
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Deportivo La Coruna 1 (Toivonen 8pen) Eibar 4 (Dzerlek 46, 60, 77, 85)
We were poor in the first half but in the 2nd half it was the Sanel Dzerlek show as he scored 4 times!!!! Real Madrid drew and the gap is down to 2pts but they will play away to already relegated Cordoba............
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Granada 1 (Diarra 3) Eibar 3 (Vadillo 12, Ruben Garcia 49, 71)
We did what we had to do but unfortunately so did Real Madrid as they won 1-0.
SO CLOSE!!!!
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UEFA Champions League Final Eibar 3 (Gabriel Barbosa 54, Moller Daehli 81, Ruben Garcia 89pen) Manchester City 0
WE ARE CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
An amazing performance this but we got a bit of luck along the way. The first half was tight but we took the lead through Gabriel Barbosa early in the 2nd half. Then Man City got a penalty which was taken by Aguero but saved by Ortola.
What followed was constant City pressure as they bombarded our goal and struck the woodwork but Moller Daehli stole the ball off of Kompany and chipped Hart from 25 yards to seal the victory and Ruben Garcia converted a late penalty to add an extra bit of gloss to the scoreline.
This month was incredible as we almost won the title despite being 7pts behind with 4 games to go and in the Champions League we emerged victorious after a 10 goal thriller against Juventus and a convincing victory in the final against Man City.
The 5-5 draw against Juventus was an incredible match and one that I wont forget in a hurry as we had it won, threw it away and somehow came back from the death. In the final we rode our luck but was clinical in front of goal.
In the league we won all of our remaining games despite putting out a backup side for a few of them and performed well but Real Madrid just stumbled over the line.
A magnificent season was had!!!!! We won the Champions League to become the champions of Europe and we also split the big two as we finished miles ahead of Barcelona in the league and just short of Real Madrid.
We improved so much in the league and managed to score over 100 goals and get 95pts which would have been enough to win the title a few times in recent seasons. We only lost 3 games and ended the season with a winning run that included big wins over Atletico Madrid and Bilbao.
In the domestic cups we lost 4-3 to Real Madrid in both Super Cup games and we lost our 2 year grip on the Copa del Rey when Valencia knocked us out on penalties.
The majority of the drama and excitement however arrived with the Champions League. We topped our group and in doing so beat Man Utd to knock them out completely before knocking out Shakhtar Donetsk in the first knock-out round.
In the quarters we thumped Real Madrid 5-1 in the first leg to all but book our spot in the semis where we faced Juventus. We drew 1-1 at home and incredibly 5-5 away to go through on away goals in a topsy turvy match.
In the final we beat Man City 3-0 to win the cup despite missing 3 defenders who would have featured!!!
Squad wise our defence and keeper performed admirably without pulling up any trees but it was in midfield where our magic is as Grenier and Cosic had decent seasons while Rafinha, Vadillo, Ruben Garcia, Moller Daehli and Ocampos were immense all season long. Up front Gabriel Barbosa had a decent first season while Sanel Dzerlek impressed when given a chance and is developing nicely.
The clubs finances is just in the black and fortunately upon winning the Champions League the board finally agreed to a stadium expansion - to a whopping 7,500 capacity lol.
A special mention goes out to Ewandro who is on loan at Real Betis as he was the 2nd top scorer in the Liga BBVA with 23 goals and did fantastically well.
Spanish Young Player of the Year - Gabriel Barbosa Liga BBVA Player of the Year - M. Moller Daehli Liga BBVA Team of the Year - B.Ekiza, M.Moller Daehli (S.Escudero, L.Ocampos) UEFA Champions League Best Player - M.Moller Daehli UEFA Champions League Dream Team - M.Moller Daehli, L.Ocampos
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WORLD CUP SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT AND FRIENDLIES TO FOLLOW
As always a brilliant story and what a brilliant end to the season. Massive wins. Looking forward to seeing what they money situation is going to be like for you and seeing who can be bought in.
As always a brilliant story and what a brilliant end to the season. Massive wins. Looking forward to seeing what they money situation is going to be like for you and seeing who can be bought in.
This is how things stand a few days after the season (before transfer budgets etc)................................. View attachment 338699
I have just offered a new contract to Benassi to get rid of his low release clause which will give him an extra 900k a year. Also I have just offered a contract to a player in Holland.
Add on a $3m loan for the extension of the stadium, better junior coaching and training facilities and things dont look so good!!!!!
Spain 10 (Ramos 4, Muniain 17, 46, 60, Isco 32, Diego Costa 36, Pedro 45, 49, Jese 72, Fabregas 83)
Gibraltar 0
Lineup - De Gea, Azpilicueta (Carvajal), Inigo Martinez (Bartra), Ramos, Alba (Bernat), Busquets, Koke, Pedro (Ruben Garcia), Muniain*, Isco (Fabregas), Diego Costa (Jese)
Spain 3 (Ramos 41, Diego Costa 52, Muniain 74) Saudi Arabia 0
Lineup - De Gea, Azpilicueta*, Pique, Ramos (Bartra), Alba, Busquets, Fabregas, Pedro (Ruben Garcia), Muniain, Isco (Jese), Diego Costa
Nothing happened in the 1st half so I tore into my players at the break and they responded superbly!!!!
South Korea 0-2 Argentina Brazil 3-2 Belgium England 2-0 Turkey
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SEMI-FINALS
Argentina 2 (Santoro 46, Lamela 93) Spain 1 (Llorente 67) AET
Lineup - De Gea, Carvajal, Inigo Martinez, Ramos, Bernat, Busquets (Koke), Thiago, Ruben Garcia, Muniain (Pedro), Isco, Diego Costa (Llorente)
Disappointing. We didnt play well enough to win however and the Argentinians missed a hatful of chances.
Brazil 0-1 England
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3rd PLACE PLAY-OFF
Spain 0 Brazil 0 AET - Spain win 4-3 on penalties
Lineup - De Gea, Azpilicueta (Isco), Pique, Bartra, Alba, Javi Martinez, Fabregas (Koke), Pedro, Muniain, Jese, Diego Costa (Llorente)
This game was so dull and boring but we managed to get the win.
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FINAL
England 0 Argentina 1 (Lamela 1)
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AWARDS
Best Player - Son Heung-Min (South Korea) Top Scorer - Son Heung-Min (South Korea) Best Young Player - Enes Unal (Turkey) Best Goal - Giannelli Imbula (Belgium) Best Goalkeeper - Joe Hart (England)
Dream Team
Hart
Alba - Rojo - Ramos - Peruzzi
Son Heung-Min - Koo Ja-Cheol - Fabregas - Barkley
Lukaku - Messi
(Ruben Garcia, Muniain and Azpilicueta were on the bench)
The World Cup was obviously a distraction this summer as I was busy with Spain for a month but I have still managed to ring the changes and at the moment I feel that maybe we can win the title for the first time.
You may be surprised about some of my transfer dealings however............
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PLAYERS IN
I cannot claim to have discovered my best signing I am afraid as this was done by my director of football. I offered the contract but he found the guy - Sebastian Driussi. He came in from Velez Sarsfield for $3m (now valued at over $20m!!!) and he looks like a world class player yet he is not a regen and I have never seen him before!!!! View attachment 338474
I signed 2 more players who will be first picks and both on free transfers. Ramon Morales is a 21y/o Mexican centre half who came in from Standard Liege and looks as though he will progress to be a world class centre half. Giannelli Imbula (scorer of the best goal in the World Cup) was brought in from Marseille and although he prefers to play in midfield I will play him at left back. View attachment 338472View attachment 338471
I further strengthened my side by signing Gerard Deulofeu from Barcelona for $4.9m and Paco Alcacer from Valencia for $3.9m. Both are on the fringes of my Spain side and hopefully they will step up to the plate. View attachment 338470View attachment 338469
This is where the surprises really kick in. Gabriel Barbosa left for Juventus in a $30m deal. I never realised that I stupidly only signed him on a 2 year deal and he wanted over $100k a week on a new deal which would be nearly double my next highest earner. I paid his agent $5m to buy the remaining 40% of his contract just before I sold him. I definately did not want to sell him but I had no choice.
Keko (128/32) joined Villarreal for $4.1m, Rossi joined Nancy for $1.5m, Patric (146/4) joined Cruzeiro for $1.3m, Kyle Naughton joined Betis for $1m and David Telletxea went to Athletic Bilbao for $400,000.
Finally I loaned out a load of players including Boudzoumou, Bach, Lindberg, Ewandro, Christensen, Larsen, Klevze, Justesen and Blazej.
As for Ewandro, I wanted to keep him but due to only being allowed 3 players who are classed as foreigners I had to let him go and Valencia came in for him.
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SUMMARY
My squad is certainly stronger and now I think I have a defence that can back up my attacking prowess. This is my new first XI........
Ortola
Imbula - Morales - Victor Ruiz - Yanguas
Cosic - Grenier
Ruben Garcia (LW) - Moller Daehli - Ocampos (RW)
Triusti
My whole squad looks a lot stronger I feel especially when I think that the likes of Ekiza, Escudero, Dzerlek, Vadillo and Deulofeu cant get into the first XI.
Eibar 3 (Driussi 43, 57pen, Vadillo 80) Villarreal 2 (Capel 41, Aboubakar 44)
A tricky opening game of the season but we came out on top thanks to a great performance from Driussi who got 2 goals and 1 assist.
UEFA European Super Cup Chelsea 5 (Willian 20, 83, Oscar 54, Hazard 64, 65) Eibar 3 (Driussi 36, 72, Grenier 66)
A valiant effort but we were never going to win considering we had 2 men sent-off.
I suppose this was a decent start to the season as we won both of our league games and lost out to Chelsea in the European Super Cup - mainly due to us having 2 players sent-off.
Sebastian Driussi has started on fire with us as he scored 5 goals in 3 games. Despite preferring to play as an AMC he has been immense as my first choice striker and hopefully he can be the catalyst towards a Liga BBVA title!!!
In the Champions League we are in the same group as Paris Saint-Germain, Southampton and Olympiakos.
Borja Ekiza left the club as Athletic Bilbao came in with a $3.8m offer. He made 199 appearances under me and scored 36 goals. While I wasnt trying to sell him the chance to get money for a 30y/o and at the same time strengthen Athletic Bilbao was too good to turn down!!!
I replaced him with Ruben Duarte who came in on loan from Chelsea. View attachment 338461
However I am picking up my FM12 story - Basqueing in Bilbao - the one with Aitor Herrera in it. I am restarting it in 2024 where I have my legendary real life players (Azpilicueta, Muniain, San Jose) but also my best regens in their prime (Cidoncha, Aitor, Garcia, David) and some amazing wonderkids on the start of their career (Izurza, Garmendia, Antonio, Gutierrez, Vinas)
